All for Love
by SteadfastWestie
Summary: A choice made at a low point in her life has consequences that will change Felicity's life forever. Inspired by the Tumblr "Summer of Olicity" prompt, "Family."
1. Chapter 1

I absolutely love how many Olicity fics are on this site. When I first started reading Arrow stories, there were basically only half a handful of them around, but now you can find them in abundance. This is my contribution. It is Inspired by the Tumblr _Summer of Olicity _"Family" prompt.

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**All for Love**

Chapter 1

Somehow, she found herself sitting in front of her computers at the Foundry, running a debugging program that wasn't really necessary at the moment. Her eyes were red and swollen from her most recent crying jag, and every once in a while she had to sniffle. She was all alone, neither Oliver nor Diggle planning to be there until well into the evening, and she wasn't sure if she was grateful to be alone or not.

Her eyes began to tear up, the screen in front of her blurring almost beyond recognition.

"Oh, god," she moaned as she lowered her face into her hands, her fingers going under her glasses and pressing against her eyes. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Felicity?" she heard someone question from behind her, causing her to start. Her head shot up, and she swiveled her chair in the direction of the speaker. Before her, half way across the room, stood one Oliver Queen, dressed in his street clothes, squinting at her in concern. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Usually, the way the fabric of his simple jeans and t-shirt combination hung quite nicely on him, clinging against his muscles all the right places, would cause her to nearly drool, leaving her feeling mortified from the impression that he knew exactly what she was thinking. But now, she was mortified for very different reasons.

This was going to change things, and her biggest fear was that he would look at her differently. Differently in a really really bad way.

The second biggest fear was that when he found out her news, his overprotectivenss of those in his circle of friends and family would lead him to banning her from participating in his quest to rid Starling City of evildoers. Going into the field was going to be out of the question, one way or the other, even if he didn't kick her off the team.

She sniffled again and shook her head, ready to make up a big lie to avoid telling him, just yet. She had only got the news herself today, and she had no idea what she was going to do about it.

"It's nothing," she said, meeting his eyes the best she could to give credence to the lie. "It's just been a really _bad_ week. In fact, it's been a pretty bad couple of months."

Which was the truth. But was it enough to fool Oliver? She tried to read his expression, but Oliver was a master of the indiscruitable look, and it was in full force now. She gave up trying and began to turn back to the computer, but before she could turn all the way around - _how does he always manage to move that quickly? - _the chair was stopped in its tracks by two manly hands.

She slowly lifted her eyes to look at his concerned face hovering over her. Keeping his eyes on hers, he let go of the chair arms and reached behind him, bringing another chair forward so he could sit on it.

"I wasn't just blowing hot air when I said you could tell me about your day," he said softly, leaning forward so his forearms were resting on his knees, and he could be more at her level. "Talk to me, Felicity. Are you still struggling with the break-up?"

At the question, more tears rose up in her eyes. He was wrong about the reason for her being upset, but at the same time he was not too far off the mark. The break-up of her last serious relationship was the catalyst for her making the most stupid decision thus far of her life. She could definitely work with that to throw him off the scent, and she was about to do that.

But something stopped her.

"No," she answered honestly. "It's not that. It's just... really complicated."

She trailed off, and she could tell that because she wasn't babbling, Oliver was grasping just how serious the problem could be.

"Felicity," he said, speaking her name softly. There was a flicker of something on his face that she couldn't interpret before it disappeared. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to ask whatever it was that was on his mind. "You can tell me anything," he earnestly reinforced. "Is someone... hurting you, or threatening you?"

"No!" she exclaimed, then calmed her voice when she realized that he could take that to really mean just the opposite. "Nothing like that either. As far as I know... no threats to my safety or mental well-being. Well, aside from the danger that comes from being a vigilante's IT assistant, but that's a risk I choose to take. And I don't regret making that choice. To help you, that is. In fact, this whole thing has probably turned into one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. And, oh god, Oliver, I think I may have screwed that up for good. All because I acted like a bubble headed _blonde_ and made a really stupid choice."

She didn't realize that she was beginning to hyperventilate until Oliver was kneeling on one knee before her, grasping her hands and absently stroking them with his thumbs to soothe her.

"Hey, it's okay," he asserted softly, and but god did the feeling of his thumbs absently stroking her hands feel good. "Whatever's happened, you can tell me. God knows I'm the last person who has any right to judge other people's choices." His voice dropped to a near whisper. "Tell me what's going on, Felicity. What have you done that's got you in this state?"

And there it happened. His gentle insistance became too much to fight against, so she blurted out her news in an unexpectedly blunt manner.

"I'm pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to every one who reviewed and followed and favorited this story. I was truly taken aback by how big and positive the response was. I hope that I can maintain the kind of quality and creativity in my writing that keeps its readers engaged and entertained all throughout the story.

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**All for Love**

**_Chapter 2_**

Even though it was subtle, the widening of Oliver's eyes was almost comical. She was used to surprising him, but she could tell that she really shocked him this time.

Instead of sputtering on with the story of how after she had broken up with her boyfriend of a year and a half, she had gone into a tailspin, straight into a bar where she hooked up with a perfect stranger and had a one night stand, Felicity watched his reaction carefully as he took in the news.

"H-how did..." he stuttered, which was something he never did, before closing his mouth and studying her face for a bit, perhaps wondering if he'd heard her right or if she was messing with him. He glanced down at her still flat stomach before raising his eyes back up to hers again. "Of course I know how something like this happens, but..." For a second, she thought he was about to descend into a babbling fit as bad as any of hers, but he stopped abruptly instead of going further with his thoughts. It took a few seconds before he opened his mouth to speak again, but his eyes and voice were softer than anything she'd ever heard from him when he asked, "What can I do to help?"

The question was the very last thing she expected. She had thought that he would demand an explanation, at the very least. It caught her so completely off guard, and tears immediately rose to her eyes again, and in that moment she wondered how she had ever thought she should fear his reaction.

That was so...

It was suddenly too much for her to handle. Her tears unleashed into sobs as she let go of the emotions she'd been trying to bury deep inside her and exposed them to him in the most basic way. She began to lower her head back into her hands, and he didn't hesitate to pull her in to his embrace instead, until her head rested where his neck met his shoulder. She could feel one of his hands resting lightly on her lower back and the other rubbing up and down her back soothingly, and she could tell he was speaking, but for the life of her she did not understand the words. The comforting tone was all she needed.

Eventually, the tears let up, and she lifted up from his shoulder, sniffling. A tissue mysteriously appeared before her eyes, and she blinked in surprise at Oliver before hesitantly accepting it from him.

"Thank you," she said, her voice stuffy. She blew her nose a little too noisily for her liking, then looked at him almost apologetically. "Well, I bet the last thing you expected when you came here was to end up with a weepy, pregnant female crying on your shoulder." She huffed a watery laugh. Another tissue appeared before her eyes, and she gratefully took it, using it to wipe her eyes and tear stained cheeks this time. "I'm sorry. I never intended to unload a truck full of tears on you like that."

"There's no need to be sorry. When I said I'd be there for you to talk about your day, that included offering the occasional shoulder to literally cry on. I consider it an honor that you consider me worthy of it."

And there he was again, being sweet as all that, and the only response she could come up with... was the rising of more tears. At least now she had legitimate reason to blame the extremeness of her emotional responses on pregnancy hormones.

She reached out to squeeze his arm and was surprised by the slight tremble of his muscles her touch caused.

"Thank you." She threw the tissues away in the wastebasket under the desk, then studied him for a moment. "I don't know exactly what I expected when I told you about my pregnancy. At the very least, I thought you'd shake your head at me for being so careless to get pregnant at a time like this. At the very worst, I thought you'd yell at me for being so careless to get pregnant at a time like this and then kick me out of the Arrow Cave for life."

"Well, obviously I'm about to do neither, though we will have to have a talk sooner rather than later about how your role here is going to change." He hesitated for a brief moment before cautiously, and maybe a bit timidly, asking, "Is it okay if I ask who the father is?... Is it Josh?"

"Yes, it's okay for you to ask," she said with a small smile. She looked down at her lap where her hands were linked tightly together. "But, no, it's not Joshua's baby. I... don't know who the father is." She looked back up at him and pointed to her belly. "This little darling is the result of a one night stand."

"I see," he responded without judgment, and she was relieved that he wasn't demanding details on who the person was so he could go after him and kill him for putting her in this predicament. Unexpectedly -thought it proably shouldn't be at this point - he reached his hand out and laid it atop hers. "Have you decided what you're going to do?"

"Well, I'm definitely planning to keep the baby," she answered firmly, having no doubt of her choice to follow through with the pregnancy and raise the child. "Being a single mother before I turned thirty was definitely not part of my life plan, but I know I can do this on my own if I need to. I _want_ to do this."

Oliver squeezed her hand.

"I promise you, Felicity, you are never going to be doing this completely on your own." He grinned at her, the roguishness of it making her heart clench. "You've got me, for one thing. I'm not completely useless when it comes to babies and children... the inevitable result of being the oldest child by a significant age gap. I can say without arrogance than I did a pretty decent job helping my mother with Thea all those years ago."

She smiled. "And you've got the remarkably close relationship with your sister to prove it."

"Thanks for remarking on it," he said with a small smirk, taking her momentarily back in time to the day he had called her remarkable, and she had responded with those very words. "And let's not forget, you'll have Diggle and Carly, and your friend Meredith. Your family, too."

Felicity sighed at the reminder that she'd have to tell her family soon. Not that her parents would disown her or anything, but she knew that they would be disappointed in her, and it would show. The disappointment wouldn't last all that long, really. It would more than likely disappear within the same minute it appeared, but even a split second of her parents' disappointment was something the "good daughter" in her wanted to avoid at all costs.

Felicity knew that when the news settled in, they would be more than supportive, and that was the important part. In fact, they'd probably embrace the idea of being grandparents with an enthusiasm that might end up bordering on the edge of interfering if she wasn't careful.

"You're right," she agreed, the thought of dodging over-enthusiastic grandparents making her smile. "I _won't_ be completely alone. I'm very lucky to have so many people in my life who will be there for the both of us." She laughed softly at her next thought. "It's too bad, though, that having a support system doesn't necessarily mean I'll have someone willing to go out in the middle of the night to indulge my late night cravings for things I oh so happen to _not_ have in my own refrigerator. That's certainly one negative about being pregnant and single."

Oliver laughed. "Tell you what. Any time you are craving something in the middle of the night, give me a call. If I'm not in the middle of saving the city from certain doom, I'll go out and get you what you need."

Even though his tone was a teasing one, she could tell that he was actually being quite sincere. Any light hearted words she might have responded with in return never made it past the kernel stage, and she was rendered momentarily speechless as her mouth dried up and a lump formed in her throat.

She swallowed and struggled for words.

"That's... very sweet of you," she began weakly, then straightened in her seat. Her tone became significantly more stronger, yet at the same time, still appropriately light hearted, as she continued, "Be warned, though, I may very well end up taking you up on that offer. And when I do, and I've woken you up at four in the morning, I certainly hope you have the good sense to not moan and groan about it. 'Cause I'll simply be forced to remind you that you were the one to volunteer yourself for the duty."

Oliver laughed again.

"You have yourself a deal, Ms. Smoak. No complaints if... no, _when_ you call me late at night requesting bizarre and very hard to find food dishes. I'll consider it a privilege."

He held out his hand, and she took it immediately, and they shook on it, sealing the deal.


End file.
